Al Sharpton Cleans Up Hip Hop in Detroit

The way Al Sharpton sees it, the place that produced Marvin Gaye (an artist who was able to find a way to speak about love without disrespecting women) would be the perfect place to continue his campaign against violence and misogyny in hip hop. "They did not make women objects of denigration," said Sharpton, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Sharpton joined forces with Rev. Horace L. Sheffield III, pastor of New Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit, in kicking off the Decency in Hip Hop Campaign in Detroit. The goal of the campaign is to "remove three offensive words that have become common vernacular of some hip-hop artists."

As part of the campaign (which was launched in New York last month, and will continue in LA next week), organizers hope to collect thousands of bars of soap, symbolic of the effort to clean up hip hop.

Sharpton led the effort to have radio host Don Imus fired earlier this year for racist comments, and is prepared to take it to the record industry.

"We can't fight Imus outside our community and not fight the syndrome in our own community," said Sharpton.